John Mellencamp’s ‘Plain Spoken’ Concert Film Headed to Netflix

John Mellencamp's Plain Spoken: From the Chicago Theater will available via Netflix beginning on Feb. 1.

The self-narrated film "presents John Mellencamp, with his full band, performing at the landmark Chicago Theater, just 250 miles from his native Indiana," according to a news release. The singer-songwriter's "highly personal voice-overs" offer fresh insights into "his Midwestern upbringing, career, and his outlook on life."

Mellencamp is joined during this special performance by Carlene Carter, who also collaborated on his most recent studio effort, Sad Clowns & Hillbillies. The album rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Americana charts and became his fifth consecutive Top 20 hit.

Mellencamp is having that success, despite general misgivings about the state of rock in general.

"It’s not going to come back. We’ve seen it," Mellencamp said last year. "It happened. It’s like we had a 50-year run of a particular type of music and history will tell us that. I’m not saying there aren’t great songwriters out there. There are. But we’re never going to experience them the way we able to experience them in the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. We’re not set up for that anymore."

Directed by Barry Ehrmann, Plain Spoken: From the Chicago Theater was recorded in October 2016 during the final leg of Mellencamp's 120-date Plain Spoken Tour. He was coming off an appearance at Farm Aid in Burgettstown, Penn., where he shared the stage with Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Dave Matthews.